Page 109 of Scars Like Wings

Also, it’s so fucking rude to ask that.What a fucking asshole.

“Ah, yes! You’re even more delicious with your rage. Fear’s taste is so acidic and thick like a lemon custard. But anger? It’s spicy. Yours tastes like a hot barbecue plate. Truly, you are my favorite flavor of energy. You must tell me what you are.”

“Rot in fucking hell, motherfucker.”

“Charming. You are going to die here, you know. So, why take such a secret to the grave? Tell me.” His grip around my neck tightened, and his claws punctured my skin. I could feel the blood trickle down alongside my sweat.

“Fuck you and your mother, you bastard.”

The energy vampire narrowed his eyes. “I suppose it doesn’t matter. One doesn’t try a Michelin Star meal and expect to eat that every day.”

He pulled me close, smelling my hair and skin again. He hummed. “I don’t usually sink my fangs into my prey, but Ineedto taste you.”

My heart sank. Energy vampires didn’t need to drink blood like normal vampires. Honestly, if they did, it was certain death for their victims as they were absorbing both one’s life energy and the life flowing in their veins. It was like drinking from a cupwith a hole in it. Tears streamed down my face as the fear finally set in.

I was going to die.

His mouth grazed my neck, making me shiver with disgust. He chuckled. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I will savor you so you will not be forgotten.”

Then he sank his fangs into my neck.

The venom wasexcruciating. It was like being stung by bees in every pore of my skin. I could hardly breathe for the pain. But it was becoming laborious to do that. It was like someone pulled the drain in a tub. All of my energy and will was leaving me. My grip loosened around his wrist. My eyelids grew heavier along with my limbs. Darkness was encroaching on the edges of my vision.

Was that Quinn’s muffled screams? I wasn’t sure. It felt so distant, so far away. Was this it? Was this really how I died? Death by a real life Dementor in a theme park ride taken straight from a problematic book series by a transphobic author? Gods, was my life just a fucking joke?

Fuck that.

That voice…

Survive. Fight.

My eyes burst open. A surge of power rapidly coursed through me, washing away the venom and filling me with more energy that I didn’t know I had. The lights and their casings burst, plunging us into darkness again. My nails lengthened into claws. I could feel my teeth sharpen into fangs. With my renewed energy, my fingers wrapped tightly around the energy vampire’s wrist. I watched as my talons broke his skin, blood starting to drip down to the catwalk.

The energy vampire pulled his mouth back. In the dark, I could clearly see my blood painted on his frown. Something about that made me even more furious. “What is this? Thisisn’t possible! How do you have so much energy? You should bedead.”

“I think you’re projecting there, buddy.Youare the one dying today,” I growled, clawing more into his wrist.

Suddenly, he screamed and let me go. I crumpled to the floor, coughing and gasping for breath. I looked up to see Quinn behind the energy vampire in the dark. One of her daggers was in his back. The other one had an otherworldly glow in the darkness.

“As I was saying before I was sorudelyinterrupted.” She stabbed with her other blade. He cried out again. “Don’t fucking touch her or be prepared to die. You really should have let me finish.”

Quinn twisted her daggers in his back. The energy vampire gasped before his skin darkened and began to crack. The light left his eyes and shined through the cracks in his skin. Then it died as his skin dried. He crumbled into ash that flew off on a wind that wasn’t there before. My energy returned, making me feel like I had just had a chai tea latte with a triple shot. With the surge of power, my teeth dulled in their sharpness and my nails returned to their manicured coffin shape. Feeling myself go back to normal, the shadows all disappeared, too. We were bathed in light from the work lights that hadn’t burst from before. The catwalk lit up along with an emergency exit sign above a door.

“Attention, guests. Something has gone wrong with the ride. Please remain calm, exit the vehicle, and follow the lights to leave the attraction.” A robotic-sounding announcement aired on repeat above us.

Quinn held her hand out for me, and I took it without hesitation. She pulled me up with such a fierce strength that I ended up right against her. I didn’t know if it was our proximity, my returned energy, or the adrenaline that made me feel electric, but it was addicting.

“Are you okay,mi tesoro?” Quinn delicately took my chin between her thumb and her index finger.

“I-I think so? I think I’m more shaken than anything. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

“No, I’m fine. Not even a scratch. He just knocked the wind out of me, that’s all. Let me see your neck.” Quinn moved me to look at my neck. I watched her eyes dance over my skin as they examined the bite and claw marks that I was sure were on my neck. Her eyes brightened with lingering rage. Before I could recognize what she was doing, Quinn used one of her daggers to cut strips off her shirt. She folded one and pressed them to my wounds. Her touch was so tender and affectionate that my heart flew into my throat. It barely hurt because of her.

“Wow, you know improvised first aid, too?” I asked breathlessly but also jokingly.

Quinn smiled. Her eyes remained focused on tending my wounds with the scraps of her shirt, but I saw some of that hard edge disappear from her eyes. “It’s hard to be in my family and not pick up some tips and tricks here and there.”

“Are those tips and tricks how you were able to kill that vampire?”

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